Eating Pizza in Naples and Imbibing History in Pompeii

Madame Owner and her daughter had stood atop Vesuvius and looked on one side down into the crater of the volcano and then to the other side for a view of Naples and the bay to take your breath. After hiking back down and boarding the bus for the twisting-turning descent they realized how hungry they were.What to eat in the city where modern pizza (a rough version has been eaten by peasants for centuries) was invented? You guessed it. MO was excited, they were eating pizza in Naples! Their lunch, besides an entire, rather large pizza for each person, included salad, wine, and gelato. Raffaele Esposito of Naples is given credit for the pizza that we are all familiar with. He owned a restaurant and in 1889 where he made what he called "pizza" in honor of visit of the Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. If you order pizza in Italy you will get the traditional Margherita, topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. The colors are said to reflect the colors of the Italian flag. 

Next up: Pompeii. Pompeii was rich and bustling, lying in the shadow of Vesuvius. In the background of the picture above you can see the volcano as it looks today, as if it were two mountains. In its pre-eruption days it would have appeared to the residents of this city as one very large mound.  When looking at this photo and filling in what it would have taken to make a mountain you can get a mind boggling idea of what amount of rock and ash would have rained down for days capturing the city and freezing it in time forever.

 This archeological site is very large, one could easily spend hours and hours walking the ruins, imagining lives of the ancient residents and their sudden violent deaths. This site is another place where you will do a bit of walking over fairly rugged and uneven terrain, though the only really steep part is right at the entrance.

Have you seen my sunglasses?

Speaking of the entrance, I must tell you a story about my scatterbrained owner here. While everyone else was putting on their headsets so as to hear the guide, and getting their first glimpses of this archeological wonder--what was my genius owner doing?

Digging frantically in her purse and checking all her pockets. Her daughter gave her an annoyed look.

"What are you looking for?"

"My sunglasses, I think I must've left them at the restaurant."

Her daughter stared at her in stunned silence. "Mom, are you being serious right now?"

My brilliant owner put her hand on top of her head to see if they were there. Nope...then she realized.
She was WEARING them.

"Oh."

"Mom, try and pay attention."


It's easy to let your imagination carry you back in time as you stand on the ancient stones and look through archways and columns, especially if you are there in late afternoon as MO's group was. The early spring sun and history cast long shadows.